Queensland schools urgently need full funding, new research shows
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 127 No 5, 19 July 2024, page 13.
The urgent need for the full funding of state schools is underlined in new research that reveals acute teacher shortages across Queensland, unsustainable teacher workloads, and alarming declines in student and teacher wellbeing.
The results of the Australian Education Union’s 2024 State of our Schools survey were released at a campaign event in Brisbane, where 1,250 miniature schools covered the lawns of Brisbane’s City Botanic Gardens, highlighting the unacceptable reality that Queensland state schools are underfunded by $1.6 billion a year.
Here are some of the results of the survey of 2,367 Queensland state school principals and teachers, conducted in March and April.
- 78 per cent of principals reported teacher shortages at their school in the past year, while more than half (54 per cent) said they had unfilled teaching positions at the time of the survey – the highest proportion of any state
- almost half of the principals said they were regularly or constantly reducing the range of specialist classes offered due to the shortages, with 32 per cent saying they were regularly or constantly merging classes
- the proportion of teachers who describe their school as significantly under-resourced has jumped from seven per cent in 2020 to 35 per cent this year
- more than 70 per cent of principals and teachers reported a decline or significant decline in student wellbeing and engagement in the past 18 months, with 65 per cent of teachers reporting a significant decline in teacher wellbeing and morale – the highest proportion of any state or territory
- eight out of ten principals said the level of counsellor support at the school was inadequate, and a quarter said children were waiting longer than four weeks, on average, to see a counsellor
- workloads remain unsustainable, with one in five teachers working 55 hours plus a week and the number of teachers committed to staying until retirement halving from 40 per cent in 2020 to 20 per cent this year.
In the AEU survey, Queensland principals said students with disabilities or learning difficulties and those who have fallen behind in literacy or numeracy would be the biggest beneficiaries if state schools were fully funded.
Teachers listed additional support for students with disability or behavioural issues and more time within their paid hours for lesson planning, assessment and reporting as changes that would most assist them to improve student outcomes.
Queensland Teachers’ Union President Cresta Richardson said the survey results highlighted the critical importance of the Queensland and federal government reaching an agreement this year to fund state schools at 100 per cent of the SRS.
“Our students and teachers are giving 100 per cent, now we need the politicians to do the same,” she said.
“It’s time for the Prime Minister to step up and lift the federal SRS share from the current 20 per cent to 25 per cent by 2028.
“The Queensland Government needs to fund a genuine 75 per cent of the SRS by 2028. That means getting rid of the accounting tricks that artificially inflate the Queensland funding share by 4 per cent through the inclusion of non-school spending.”
Queensland state schools are officially funded at 90.5 per cent of the SRS this year, but once the 4 per cent of non-school spending was factored in, the true figure was 86.5 per cent. By contrast, Queensland private schools are overfunded at 103 per cent of the SRS this year.